


Nimble McKinnie

by Msgay



Category: Holby City
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Meet-Cute, flustured bernie, nimble hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 21:37:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18819496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Msgay/pseuds/Msgay
Summary: Bernie is a writer in need of a suit for an important event; Sian, her agent, knows just the tailor...Jason and Morven are adorable sidekicks as always.  And what is up with those mannequins?Alternative universe, alternative meet-up.





	Nimble McKinnie

Bernie hadn’t originally planned to wear a suit but on the last event she had worn a dress and all the men in the room ogled her, a few even approached her which was the last thing she wanted or needed. Her publicist had laughed for almost ten minutes and gave her a name of a tailor in Holby.

“It’s just what you need; go and buy something soft butch on me.” Bernie made a note to google ‘soft butch’ later and read out loud the name on the card Sian had given her.

“Nimble McKinnie”

“I’ll give her a call so she can see you this week.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I can call.”

“You’ll never get an appointment this month, let alone this week.”

“I’ll go to a shop then.”

“Nonsense! It won’t fit properly, and those legs deserve a good fit.”

\--

“’Reeeena, daaaarling.”

“Sian. What do you need?”

“Ouch, darling. No ‘hello, how are you?’ ”

“Not since you set me up with that awful humdrum of a police officer.”

“All I did was introduce you, I can’t be blamed for your boring dinner.” She paused. “Nor for his horrible triple chin.” They laughed. 

 “Let me guess, you have a client in need of a suit?”

“Right you are.” Sian hears Serena flipping pages on what she assumes is her planner.

“I am fully booked, Sian.”

Sian eyes Bernie up and down as she browsed her bookshelves.

“I think you’ll like this one.” Serena sighed. “I’ll make you worth your while…”

“Send him later today around closing time. My 3 o’clock is here.” She hung up and walked towards Mr. Malasidou, one of her many Greek customers who visited every couple of months. Sian joined Bernie by her bookshelves.

“She’s expecting you at closing time.”

“You didn’t have to ask her to do overtime.”

“Take a bottle of nice Shiraz, those skinny jeans and she’ll be putty in your hands.” Sian purred.

 

Bernie had a few hours so she decided to sunbathe a bit in the park before going to McKinnie’s. About one hour before she stopped at Waitrose to do her shopping and looked at her hand, her writing was a bit smudged but she could read ‘butch Shiraz’.

 

Bernie arrived half an hour before closing time clutching the bottle of wine. She had never had custom made clothes before. She worried about the price; her book was selling better than expected but these days unless you were J.K. Rowling, authors rarely saw any money after the advancement. She figured she could get one suit and three or four different colour shirts and that would cover her for the rest of her professional engagements.

The shop looked welcoming and warm, nothing like the tailor shops her father and grandfather used to go to when she was a child. A young man came to welcome her, she had to admit his suit did look flawless.

“Welcome to McKinnie’s. My name is Jason. How can I help you?”

“Hello. I’m Bernie Wolfe.”

“Ah. Yes. Sian’s client. Please come with me, Morven will see you in exactly six minutes.”

“I thought hm Serena?”

“Auntie Serena is very busy today, she is now in another fitting but she will come around later to supervise.”

“I, uh, I was told to bring this.” She handed over the wine while looking down.

“Sian must really like you if she’s already sharing how to get into Auntie Serena’s good side.” Bernie blushed not really sure why.

Jason guided Bernie to the waiting area; despite being full of mannequins and suits, the store was quite colourful. The waiting area consisted of a leopard print two-seater next to a coffee table with several magazines and books. She gave her coat to Jason and took a seat. To her horror her book was on the pile, she discretely but swiftly swapped it for the one in the bottom. Embarrassed, she got up to have a look around.

Bernie touched the fabric of one or two suits on the rack to start getting ideas for hers. Then with her right hand she smoothed down a jacket line of a suit on a mannequin, she could see herself wearing something like this actually. All of the sudden the mannequin’s left arm popped out. She grabbed the arm before it hit the ground and clumsily tried to put it back in the right spot. She fumbled with the sleeve a bit when Jason came to the rescue.

“Here. Let me do it.”

“Sorry.”

“That always happens to Dominic.”

“Dominic?”

“That’s the mannequin, they all have names.”

“Oh?

Pointing to each one, Jason introduced: ‘Jac’; ‘Ric’; ’Henrik’; ’Donna’ and ’Sasha’.

“They all have different body types and shapes. It took Auntie Serena and I a long time online to find them all. Auntie Serena insisted her shop was open to everyone, not just stuffy old farts – her words, not mine.” Bernie laughed with gusto.

Morven appeared then and introduced herself as Serena’s assistant. She showed Bernie to the changing room behind red velvet curtains. Morven set up her tools on a moving desk, she had two measuring tapes, a lot of red and blue pins, and quite a few safety pins.

“I will measure you and jot down what you’re looking for. As soon as she can Ms. McKinnie will join us. Don’t be surprised if she measures you again, she likes to be thorough.”

 

“Auntie Serena, Sian’s client has arrived. This Shiraz is for you. Shall I put it next to the others?”

Serena lifted her gaze from Mr. Reed’s shoulders and looked at the label. Serena gasped.

“Is that the 2009 Grand Burge?”

Jason read the label.

“Yes, shall I put it-“

“No! No. That one goes home with me. Sian sent that? That is a bit more than she usually bribes me with.”

“No, her client, Bernie, bought it for you.”

Serena sighed and mumbled: “Sian probably got him convinced we have a date later – I could strangle her!”

“Auntie Serena, you aren’t listening.”

“Sorry, Jason. Yes?”

“I was saying, I like Bernie.”

“Yes! Yes, Bernie. I’ll take care of it. Thank you, Jason” Serena said dismissively.  Jason frowned disapproving of his auntie’s listening skills.

 

The first thing Serena saw was a golden halo of the most exquisite curls, then she stopped short. Her eyes traced the figure in the white shirt and the impossibly tight black jeans. Morven heard her whimper and assumed it was related to her work.

“Ms. McKinnie, I haven’t started, I-” Bernie turned around and for once she was happy she was in a tight space as she used both her hands to steady herself. Bernie didn’t know what was stealing her breath, was it the woman’s dark eyes? Her stunning smile? The voluptuous curves she wished she could?... Serena recovered first and cleared her throat.

“I’ll take it from here, Morven, thank you. You can finish up with Mr. Reed.” Morven was bewildered, it wasn’t like Serena to give up control so easily, but she wasn’t going to waste her opportunity.

Once alone both Bernie and Serena discreetly took a deep breath through their nose.

“So you’re Sian’s new client? Bernie? I was expecting a man...” Serena extended her hand. After shaking her hand Bernie returned hers to the cubicle's walls.

“Ha, Bernie is short for Berenice. I usually go by Bernie Wolfe. I’ve only been with Sian a couple of weeks, I, uh, I have an event in October and I need a fancy suit. She said you were the best.”  Serena grinned making Bernie push her hands further into the walls of the fitting room.

“One of the best, yes… Right. Why don’t we start with measuring you up? And, and you can tell me about your event so I know what you need.” Serena got down on her knees and Bernie forgot to speak English for a few seconds.

“uh. Hm. Oh just a work thing, ward-award thing. With lots of people in expensive clothes. So I, I, uh need-”

“Bernie?” Serena placed her hand on Bernie’s left thigh. A high pitch “mh?” was all Bernie managed.

“How fancy or formal is this… thing?”

“uh.” She could do this simple thing, she had spoken to women before. “Very fancy. Think Oscars. No, think Baftas without so much press. Thankfully.”

“Wow!” She measured Bernie’s waist and hoped she wasn’t blushing because the room seemed to be getting hotter by the minute. Bernie noticed her expression change.

“Wait. I thought Sian only represented writers these days…”

“Oh, I wouldn’t know. Like I said I have only been with her a couple of weeks… I _am_ a writer though.”

“A writer going to the Baftas? Scripts? Anything I might have seen?” She smiled seductively and Bernie pinched her own leg discreetly. Serena made her open her arms and she avoided looking at Serena in order to be able to continue speaking fluently.

“No, no – not the Baftas, really, but the equivalent, I guess. I don’t write scripts – I wrote a book a while back and-”

They were face to face now and so, so close. Serena’s eyes widened suddenly.

“Berenice bloody Wolfe! Are you telling me you’re going to the Man Booker prize?!” Bernie squirmed a bit.

“Y-yes?”

“Bernie! That’s amazing! Wait. Bernie Wolfe? Are you the B. G. Wolfe? _Until father gets home_? _A fraction of my soul_?” Bernie cringed, she so hated being under the spotlight, it made her wish she was part chameleon.

“hm. Yes?”

For the first time that evening Serena had to refrain herself from kissing Bernie full on the lips. She took a step back and let go of Bernie’s arms just to be sure.

“Bernie, I…” She noticed how uncomfortable Bernie was and smiled. “I take it you’re the stereotypical reclusive shy author then?”

“ah. Not reclusive, no. I have friends, kids…exes. I just don’t like being the centre of attention and, and the books…” She shrugged.

“They have been getting plenty of attention indeed. I love your work.” Bernie blushed. Serena bit her tongue; B.G. Wolfe had become one of her favourite authors with just two novels, and a few essays online. And that genius was inside a hot woman’s body, this was too much.

“You must be selling well if Sian invited you to network at the Man Booker.”  

“Ah. She didn’t. I…” She looked down for a second then back at Serena’s calm smiling face. “Iwasshortlistedtoday.” She whispered.

“What?.. Bernie…” Serena admonished her in a mock tone.

“They announced this morning _A fraction of my soul_ was shortlisted, ok?? SO I have to go to this stupid thing even though I hate big parties and dressing up, and all those men pretending to have read and liked my book just to get into my dress! And besides, Ali Smith should win, she was blatantly robbed with _Hotel World_ , or let Mantel or Rushdie get a third prize for god’s sake!”

“Bernie – breathe!” Serena was sure she had just witnessed a rare long utterance from this stunning woman.

“Sorry.” Serena chuckled.

“You really don’t like being on the spotlight, do you? And what’s this about a dress?”

Bernie regaled Serena with stories from book signings, conferences, interviews and parties where men flocked to her, an out lesbian, all claiming to be sensitive men who would never hurt her. “More like I would hurt _them_ , I was in the army, you know? I know thirteen ways to kill a man with my bare hands.” Serena cackled. They exchanged anecdotes and laughed until Jason interrupted them.

“Auntie Serena, you are taking much longer than usual with measurements. We are going to miss _Countdown_.”

Their bubble burst, Serena put on her professional face.

“Sorry, Jason. We just got distracted. I will now see fabric options with Bernie. You and Morven can go home, darling. You can have your dinner and watch _Countdown_ , you’ll tell me all about it tomorrow.” Bernie could see the love in Serena’s face and wished it was directed at her.

“You told us to never leave anyone alone with customers after closing.”

“Yes. I, I was worried about our safety, I-” She glanced at Bernie. “Bernie is perfectly harmless, Jason. I am quite safe.”

“OK. Goodnight Bernie and Auntie Serena.”

Serena leaned in and whispered in Bernie’s ear: “Besides, all I need to do to defend myself is compliment you or your books…” She let the sibilant drag more than necessary. Bernie honked wildly which got Serena going again. They were guffawing so much they barely noticed Jason and Morven leaving. Jason suggesting locking the door.

“Auntie Serena has a key to get out and it seems safer as they might not even hear an intruder with all that noise.” Morven smiled.

“It’s nice to hear Serena laughing freely again.”

“It is, I hope we get to see more of Bernie.”

Inside Bernie and Serena had managed to calm down and were looking at fabrics with Bernie touching each one and giving a nod or shaking her hand with a disgusted expression. Serena had never had this much fun looking at samples.

“I think this blue is you. How about a blue and waistcoat, a white shirt and a burgundy tie? Unless you want a bowtie?”

“Is Burgundy that type of red?” Bernie feigned innocence and pointed to Serena’s blouse. Serena slapped her shoulder playfully.

“More like that lovely Shiraz you brought me! Did Sian tell you to choose that one?”

“No, she said you liked Shiraz and I googled ‘award winning Shiraz’. That one was the only one on the Waitrose down the street.”

“You don’t do things by halves, do you?”

“Sian said you never take customers 3 months before an event and that you rarely take new clients these days.”

“She could have mentioned our name, I’d have cleared my schedule.” She muttered. “How about we opened it?”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. I wasn’t”

“Come on! We make the occasion, wine is just a bonus to any situation anyways…”

“Can we order food then?”

Serena laughed and handed Bernie her unlocked phone.

“Open Deliveroo and pick whatever you like. Put in your phone number while you’re at it.” She thought of adding some feeble excuse about contacting her about her suit but a big part of her figured they were past that.

Of course Serena had a corkscrew in the office….

They drank and relaxed until the food arrived. Bernie had chosen pasta from her favourite Italian and did it pair well with the wine! It was an impromptu date, but a date nonetheless. A date they both felt was going really well. Bernie started to wonder if the date was going well enough for a goodnight kiss while Serena had long decided it most definitely did. Bernie allowed herself two seconds of daydreaming of going to the Man Booker ceremony in October with this exquisite woman as her date.

They talked as if there were no constraints in time, the night stretching as their hearts expanded to make room for this new wonder in front of them. After one particular quip Serena couldn’t restrain herself any longer and kissed Bernie. It was the most desperate and natural thing. Bernie kissed her back and it was as if all her life had been in preparation for this, for this moment, for this woman; Bernie was home.  Bernie most definitely had a date for the Man Booker ceremony.

 


End file.
